Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's solo project attracts a dismal crowd at Good Things Festival in Brisbane

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is used to playing in front of huge crowds full of adoring fans.

But the singer may have received quite the shock when he stepped on the stage for the Brisbane leg of the touring Good Things festival.

A photo, taken by online culture portal The Black Hoody, managed by Luke Girgis, depicted a nearly empty pavilion as the singer, accompanied by the Australian band The Delta Riggs for his solo project, took to the stage.

The image, captured from the back of the large venue, displayed an almost empty space, with only a few people scattered at the back and a relatively small crowd gathered near the front of the stage.

Captioning the post, Luke claimed the 1979 hitmaker played his solo set to approximately 300 people — a far cry from what his band The Smashing Pumpkins have come to expect.

'Side projects rarely work out,' he wrote on the post.

'This is Billy Corgan at Good Things Festival. Maybe 300 people, if it was The Smashing Pumpkins it would have been 20k.'

The post was met with a flurry of comments from followers, with many suggesting Biily's lacklustre crowd had more to to with the fact that his set clashed with nu-metal icons Korn.

Billy was on stage from 8.10pm to 9.10pm, while Korn's set kicked off at 8.30pm.

'Was this at the same time as Korn though?,' one fan asked.

'Bad planning on the festivals part I think, he should have been on earlier against a different era or genre band.'

Another agreed, adding: 'No it's because Korn was on, I wanted to see both but had to choose not sure why any act would be put on at same time as headline band.'

Some were quick to suggest that the photo offered a false perspective, claiming that there were many more people in attendance than the photo would suggest.

'I was at his set and there were a lot more than 300 people there,' one commenter wrote.

'You did well to stand at the most inconvenient spot to purposely make this look as small as possible.'

Another fan, who attended the festival's Melbourne leg said it was much the same story down south for Billy.

'I saw him in Melbourne. The crowd was tiny. 100-200 max,' they claimed. 

Billy's lacklustre festival showing comes after he surprised fans in Melbourne with a surprise set before his Good Things turn.

As a pre-show warm-up, the Tonight Tonight hitmaker regaled an intimate crowd of around 80 fans with a short acoustic set at Melbourne venue The Gem Bar last Thursday evening.

Billy offered up a six-song set to an enthralled crowd that kicked off with the track Dancehall from his 2019 solo album Collisions.

He also gave fans some Smashing Pumpkins tunes including two from the band's seminal album Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Stumbleine and the ever-popular 1979.

As an extra surprise for fans, Billy also threw two covers into the mix - the first being an interpretation of the Bee Gees classic To Love Somebody.

He also threw in a deep cut, a rendition of the early 1900's Vaudeville tune Shine On, Harvest Moon.

The set also featured a Q&A section, where Billy eagerly answered unfiltered questions from fans, Blunt Magazine reported.

When one fan asked Billy to name is favourite thing about Australia, he was quick to gush about Australian's devil-may-care attitude - something he said was evident in out music.

'I know that sounds overly simplistic but you guys don’t give a f***. I think that’s great,' he said , as reported by Blunt.

'It shows in your rock'n'roll. Your great rock'n'roll bands, whether it’s AC/DC or Midnight Oil or even Amyl & The Sniffers.

'That’s what makes it great. You’re bringing Australia to the world. I respect it.'